Bioresource Technology 40 (1992) 43-48

:' "~' ~~i

Anaerobic Digestion of Fruit and Vegetable

Processing Wastes for Biogas Production
Prema Viswanath, S. Sumithra Devi & Krishna Nand*
Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore-570 013, India
(Received 1 October 1990; revised version received 15 February 1991; accepted 22 February 1991 )

Abstract

tinent to convert these wastes into biogas, which

could supply much of the energy needed for inplant operations.
There have been a number of reports on the
utilization of fruit and vegetable processing wastes
(Knol etal., 1978; Lane, 1984; Sumithra Devi and
Krishna Nand, 1989; DNES Report, 1990) individually as a feedstock for biogas production.
However, there are no reports on the simultaneous use of various fruit wastes as feedstock in
a single digester. Most fruits and vegetables are
processed on a seasonal basis, only for a period of
2-3 months, and the wastes that emanate during
these processes vary considerably in their
physico-chemical characteristics. Some of them
are rich in toxic constituents such as limonin in
citrus wastes and most of them are deficient in
nitrogen (such as mango and pineapple processing
wastes). Since the overall potential for energy production through anaerobic digestion from these
wastes is large, it becomes necessary to operate
the digesters throughout the year with any of the
wastes available. In this paper observations made
on the use of various fruit wastes in succession or
mixed as feedstock for biogas production are presented.

The effect of feeding different fruit and vegetable

wastes, mango, pineapple, tomato, jackfruit,
banana and orange, was studied in a 60-liter
digester by cycling each waste every fifth day in
order to operate the digester as and when there was
supply of feed. The characteristics of the anaerobically digested fluid and digester performance in
terms of biogas production were determined at different loading rates (LR) and at different hydraulic
retention times (HRT), and the maximum biogas
yield of 06 rrd/kg VS added was achieved at a 20day HR T and 40 kg TS m - 3day- 1 loading rate. The
hourly gas production was observed in the digesters
operated at 16 and 24 days HRT. The major yield
(74"5%) of gas was produced within 12 h of feeding
at a 16-day H R T whereas at a 24-day H R T only
59~93% of the total gas could be obtained at this
time.
Key words: Anaerobic digestion, waste utilization,
fruit and vegetable wastes, biogas.
INTRODUCTION
Over 60 x 1 0 6 t of fruits and vegetables are produced annually in India, of which only 1% is processed in the fruit and vegetable processing
industries (Krishna Nand & Manjrekar, 1988).
The solid wastes normally account for 40-50% of
the raw material processed and has a total solid
concentration of 10-15%. Disposal of these quantifies of wet, putrescible organic refuse presents
formidable
environmental
and
economic
problems. Since a substantial quantity of energy is
used for various processing steps, it becomes per-

METHODS
Substrates
The mango, orange, pineapple and tomato processing wastes were collected from fruit processing factories (Kissan Products Ltd, Bangalore,
Karnataka; Clean Foods, Madanpalle, Andhra
Pradesh; Globe Foods, Mysore, Karnataka and
Mysore Fruitin, Mysore, Karnataka). Jackfniit
and banana wastes were obtained from restaurants and hotels located in Mysore City. The sam-

*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

43

P. V'~wanath, S. S. Devi, K. Nand

44

ples were sun-dried, ground and stored at 12(2

and used throughout these studies.
Digesters
Plastic drums of 60 liter capacity, available
locally, were converted into digesters with inlet
and outlet ports for feeding and effluent discharge
along with a gas outlet. The digesters, with a
working volume of 45 liter, were operated under
the semi-continuous mode of feeding at a temperature of 30 + 2"C.
METHODS
Start-up procedure and inoculum
Cowdung diluted in the ratio of 4:5 with water
was charged in the digester along with 10% of
starter culture obtained from the biogas digester
(5 m 3) of the Experimental Animal Production
Center Facility of CFTRI, Mysore (Prema
Viswanath & Krishna Nand, 1989). Initially
stabilization of the digesters was carded out for
4-6 weeks and then they were operated o n
various fruit wastes added in succession at a constant loading rate of 40 kg TS m-3day -1 and 25
Table 1.
Periods
(25 days each)

Feedstock (wastes) used for

5 days each in succession
Tomato, banana, jackfruit, orange
peel with oil, pineapple
Tomato, jacldruit, mango, pineapple,
deoiled orange
Pineapple, mango, jackfi'uit,
pineapple, tomato
Banana, deoiled orange, jackfruit,
pineapple, mango
Tomato, orange peel with oil,
jacldruit, banana

days HRT under the semi-continuous m o d e ,

removing and replacing 1.8 liters of slurry at a
definite time once a day. The pattern of feeding
was as in Table 1.
In order to simulate natural conditions for a
mixed-feedstock anaerobic digestion process, no
regular sequence of feeding pattern was followed.
Five digesters were used in these experiments.
Analytical methods
Daily gas production was recorded by discharging
through a gas-flow meter (Toshniwal, Bangalore,
India). Gas analysis was done using a Netel Gas
Analyser with Porapak Q and molecular sieve
columns with a TCD detector (Prema Viswanath
& Krishna Nand, 1989). Total and volatile solids,
fat, ash, total nitrogen and phosphorus were
determined according to the methods of AOAC
(1975). Total carbon was analysed using a Carlo
Erba 1106 Elemental Analyser. Characteristics
periodically examined to evaluate the digesters
were pH, total solids (TS), total volatile solids
(VS), alkalinity as CaCO 3, total volatile fatty acids
as acetate, and NH3-N using standard methods of
the American Public Health Association (1975).
Gas analysis was carded out four times in each
run of a retention period while the effluent
characteristics were determined twice during each
run.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The proximate composition of representative
samples of different wastes is listed in Table 2.
The total carbon content approached almost 40%
and above, whereas great variability in the
nitrogen was observed which resulted in a varied
carbon to nitrogen ratio of 76"5 to 21.32 in the

Table 2. Proximate composition of fruit wastes

Constituents
(%)

Tomato

Mango

Orange

Deoiled
orange

Pineapple

Banana

Jackfruit

Moisture a
Total sofids
Volatile solids b
Ash b
Total carbon b
Total nitrogen b
Phosphorus b
C/N ratio

70.5
29.5
95.73
4.3
54-9
4.2
0.22
13-0

73.6
26.4
96.4
3.6
39.8
0.5
0.56
76-5

73.4
26.6
94.2
5.8
42.5
1.0
0"00
40.5

75.14
24.86
93"61
6-39
43.1
1.3
0.02
33.2

87.69
12.31
93.79
6.2
38"9
0.9
0"08
42.3

88.14
11.86
95-07
4.9
40-5
1-9
0"09
21.3

80.15
19-85
92.27
7.7
46-3
1-4
0-09
33.1

On wet weight basis.

bOn dry weight basis.
Averages of triplicate analyses.

Digestion of fruit and vegetable wastes

decreasing order: mango, pineapple, orange,

deoiled orange, jackfruit, tomato and banana processing wastes. C/N ratios between 20 and 30 are
optimum for maximum biogas generation
(Sanders & Bloodgood, 1965) and generation
failed at 52 and above with paper pulp and
sewage mixtures. Adjustment of ratios with synthetic fertilizers such as urea and ammonium sulphateis uneconomical (DNES Report, 1989), but
the formulation of feed with complementary
wastes is an effective method of overcoming these
problems.
The observations recorded during the start-up
studies are presented in Fig. 1. An initial drop in
pH from 7-0 to 6.7 was observed by the end of 5
days of the study, but this gradually rose to 7.0 by
the 35th day. Biogas and methane yields varied
from 0"6 to 1"0 m 3 and 0"35 to 0"6 m 3 per kg of
volatile solids added respectively during the first
three runs. During this period of drastic variation
in the biogas/methane yield there was, however,
negligible variation in the pH. Moreover, the concentration of VFA (as acetate) and the alkalinity
(as CaCO3) determined in the effluent were on an
average 310 and 1220 mg/liter respectively, indicating stable anaerobic digestion conditions. After
a period of 85 days, there was little variation in
the biogas and methane yields although the feedstock used was changed once in 5 days. An
average yield of biogas and methane of 0-92 and

45

0"55 m 3 per kg VS added was obtained respectively. In a separate study, it has been found that if
some of these wastes were used individually as
feedstock for biogas production, there was souring of the digesters leading to digestion failure
when loaded at 40 kg TS m - 3 d a y - i at a HRT of
25 days (DNES Report, 1990).
For digesters designed with pollution control as
the main objective, the optimum retention period
can be considered as the minimum hydraulic
retention time that can be tolerated before instability of the digester occurs (Horton, 1980). In
addition the higher the loading rate at which the
digester can be operated, the greater is its role in
pollution abatement. Hence, two experiments
were carried out one after another to optimize
these two important operational parameters.
Stabilized digesters were operated at retention
times of 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 days at a constant
loading rate of 40 kg TS m-3day-1. The pattern
of feeding followed was as described in Methods.
The results are presented in Table 3. Digesters
operating at 16, 20 and 24 days HRT were found
to be stable. There was a perfect linking of the
acidogenic and methanogenic phase since the pH
remained at 7-0 and since there was no drastic
increase in acidity or alkalinity. However, the
digesters operating at 8 and 12 days HRT went
sour by the end of one run. Instability of the
digesters was directly related to the drop in pH,

8"0
6.0

:-

o-61

IA

I'Z

0-8

o
~.~

~. m 0"4,

Periods (25 doys eoch)

Fig.

1. Staxt-up studies of biogas production from a mixed feedstock of various fruits and vegetables. For feed mixtures see
Methods.

46

P. Viswanath, S. S. Devi, K. Nand

increase in total volatile fatty acids, total alkalinity

and total ammonia concentration as observed by
other workers (Bryant et aL, 1977; Hobson, 1981;
Ranade et al., 1989; Sales et al., 1989). In the
second experiment four digesters were operated
at a 16 day HRT with a loading rate of 40 kg TS
m-3day -~. After these reached steady state, the
loading rates of three of them were raised to 60,
80 and 100 kg TS m-3day -1. As has been
observed by other workers (Hawkes, 1980;
Horton, 1980; Pyle, 1980) there was a definite

relationship between the gas yield and loading

rate (Table 4). Only digesters operating at a loading rate of 40 kg TS m-aday-~ were found to be
stable. Souring of the digesters operating at 60, 80
and 100 kg TS m-3day -~ was observed by the
end of one run.
In another set of studies, the hourly gas production in digesters operating at 16, 20 and 24 day
HRT, at a constant loading rate of 40 kg TS
m-aday-1 was recorded and is depicted in Fig. 2.
It was observed that there was no uniformity in

Table 3. Effect of varying the HRT

A. Operational parameters
HRT (days)
TS in feed slurry (%)
VS in feed slurry (%)
VS loading rate
(kg m-3day - I)
B. Gas production
Daily gas production (liters)
Gas production rate (vol/vol/day)
Gas yield (m3/kg VS added)
Gas yield (m3/kg TS added)
Methane (%)
Specific methane production
(m3/kg VS added)
C. Effluent characteristics
Total alkalinity (mg/liter as CaCO 3)
NH3-N (mg/liter)
Total volatile fatty acids
as acetate (rag/liter)
pH

8
4
94 + 3
38

12
4
94+3
38

16
4
94+3
38

20
4
94+3
38

24
4
94+3
38

27.5
0-62
0.13
0.13
22.0
0-03

28"5
0"63
0"20
0"19
47-2
0.09

49-0
1-09
0-49
0-44
51.1
0.25

53-5
1"2
0"63
0"60
58-4
0-37

37"0
0.82
0.52
0-50
61.2
0.32

8116
580

4112
240

1682
98

2018
85

1451
146

6430
4-6

2310
6.1

610
7.1

322
7.0

341
7"1

aValues observed just before the digester went sour.

Table 4. Effect of varying the loading rate

A. Operational parameters
TS in feed slurry (%)
VS in feed slurry (%)
VS loading rate (kg m- 3day - ~)
HRT (days)
B. Gas production
Daily gas yield (liters)
Gas production rate (vol/vol/day)
Gas yield (m3/kg VS added)
Gas yield (ma/kg TS added)
Methane (%)
Specific methane production
(m3/kg VS added)
C. Effluent characteristics
Total alkalinity (mg/liter as
CaCO~)
NHa-N 2 (mg/liter)
Total volatile fatty acids as
acetate (mg/liter)
pH
Values are an average of three runs.
hValues observed just before the digesters went sour.

Aa
4
94 + 2
3-8
16

Bh
6
94 + 2
5-7
16

Ch
8
94 + 2
7-6
16

Db
10
94 + 2
9-5
16

54.0
1.2
0.51
0.48
53.1

88.0
1.95
0.46
0.52
42.8

71.0
1-7
0.34
0.32
32.4

32.5
0-72
0.12
0.12
30.3

0.27

0.19

0.11

0-04

1715

3450

5120

4280

185

450

560

490

7100
7.0

5121
6"0

7120
5"3

7450
4.3

Digestion offruit and vegetable wastes

47

5.0

t,.O
o

mm

0~ 3.0

.~

iJ

o
i.

a. 2.0
el

o
o

/,

12

16

20

2e,

T;me

(2/, h o u r s )

Fig. 2. Pattern of biogas production in 24 h period while operating at various hydraulic retention times.
/ x - - , 20 day;
[]
,24 day HRT.

the gas production in a 24 h period. Maximum gas

was produced at the fourth hour after addition of
feed and there was a spurt in gas production at
more or less regular intervals. Moreover, more
than 60% of the gas was produced within the first
12 h of anaerobic digestion. Furthermore, comparisons of the percentage of gas produced at
regular intervals of time in digesters operating at
various HRTs indicated that during the first 12 h
while 74-5% of the total biogas is produced in
digesters operating at shorter hydraulic retention
times of 16 days, only 59-03% of the total gas is
produced in digesters operating at a 24 days HRT
by the same period. This may be due to variation
in the microflora dominating in digesters operating at different retention times. Chartrain & Zeikus (1986) have observed that Methanosarcina
barked dominate under conditions when the dilution rate is high while Methanothrix soehgenii predominate under conditions of low dilution rates.
Based on these observations it is felt that in order
to increase the efficiency of digestion, the daily
volume of feed slurry could be introduced into the
digesters twice a day, when operating digesters at
short hydraulic retention time.

CONCLUSION
Thus in these studies, it can be seen that fruit
wastes such as mango, pineapple, orange, banana,

,16 day;

jackfruit and tomato can be used as feedstock for

biogas production by using them in succession for
short periods of time (5 days) without any supplementation with nitrogen under mesophilic conditions. The digester operating at a 16 day HRT and
at a loading rate of 40 kg TS m-3day -1 has been
operated for 1 years and has shown no signs of
failure. An average yield of 0.5-0.6 m 3 of biogas
per kg VS added was recorded with a methane
content of 51-53%. Based on these observations,
further studies are in progress to carry out large
scale trials in 1.5 and 25 m 3 digesters.

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48

P. Hswanath, S. S. Devi, K. Nand

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